This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
DOJ Sued For Crony Justice - Presenting "A Decade of Illegal Conduct by JP Morgan Chase"
Earlier today, the non-profit organization Better Markets did what so many others have only dreamed of doing - they sued the Department of Justice.
Specifically, as they disclose in the fact sheet posted on their website, they are "challenging the historic and unprecedented $13 billion settlement agreement between the U.S. Department of Justice and JP Morgan Chase (“Agreement”). Better Markets alleges in its complaint that the DOJ violated the Constitution and laws of the United States by using a mere contractual agreement to resolve claims of historic importance without subjecting the Agreement to independent judicial review. In effect, the DOJ acted as investigator, prosecutor, judge, jury, sentencer, and collector, without any check on its authority or actions, even though the amount is the largest in the 237 year history of the United States. Because the DOJ has declared its intention to use the Agreement as a “template” in future similar cases, it is imperative that the DOJ’s unlawful and secretive approach in the settlement process be subjected to judicial review."
We wish them the best of luck, as in a "crony jsutice" system as corrupt as this one - perhaps best described, paradoxically enough by the fictional movie The International - where the same DOJ previously implicitly admitted it will not prosecute "systemically important" firms like JPM to the full extent of the law and instead merely lob one after another wrist slap at them to placate the peasantry, any hope for obtaining true justice is impossible.
That said, the key aspects of the Better Markets lawsuit deserve attention. They are broken down as follows:
For years leading up to the financial crisis of 2008, JP Morgan Chase allegedly engaged in pervasive fraud in the packaging and sale of thousands of mortgage-backed securities to investors. Those securities were stuffed with subprime loans that failed to meet applicable underwriting criteria. Employees, managers, and potentially high-level executives of JP Morgan Chase knew that the securities were riddled with toxic loans, but they allegedly concealed the truth from investors when they marketed and sold the securities. Investors lost huge but still unknown sums of money as a result of the fraud, and the bank’s illegal conduct contributed directly to the biggest financial crash since 1929 and the worst economy since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
After negotiating the Agreement in complete secrecy, the DOJ announced the $13 billion deal on November 19, 2013, claiming that it was holding JP Morgan Chase accountable for its illegal activities. Under the Agreement, DOJ grants JP Morgan Chase broad civil immunity in exchange for a $2 billion civil penalty, along with $4 billion in “consumer relief” for the benefit of homeowners with problem mortgages. The Agreement also allocates $7 billion to eight other agencies or states to resolve their claims against JP Morgan Chase.
Key Allegations in the Complaint
The Agreement was struck under the most extraordinary circumstances. For example—
- THE HISTORIC CLAIMS: The Agreement resolved claims of pervasive fraud that contributed to the worst financial crash since 1929 and the worst economy since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
- THE LARGEST AMOUNT EVER: The settlement amount was the largest in U.S. history from any single entity by more than 300%.
- THE BIGGEST BANK: JP Morgan Chase is the largest, richest, and most well-connected Wall Street bank in the United States.
- THE HIGHEST-LEVEL NEGOTIATORS: The Attorney General and other senior DOJ political appointees negotiated directly and entirely in secret with the CEO of JP Morgan Chase, someone who was considered a possible Treasury Secretary just a few years ago.
- THE $10 BILLION PHONE CALL: The cellphone of DOJ’s third highest ranking official rang with the “familiar” phone number of JP Morgan Chase’s CEO, who called to offer billions of dollars to stop DOJ from holding a press conference and filing a lawsuit in just a few hours. The call worked, and the press conference and lawsuit were both called off.
- THE UNPRECEDENTED AGREEMENT: DOJ gave complete civil immunity to JP Morgan Chase for defrauding thousands in exchange for $13 billion, via a contract that was negotiated and finalized in secret without any review or approval by a federal court.
?Notwithstanding the historic nature of the settlement, the Agreement was never subjected to judicial review, so there has been no independent evaluation of its terms. Furthermore, the vague settlement documents fail to disclose critically important information about every aspect of the deal. For example, the Agreement fails to identify or explain—
- THE LOSSES: How much did JP Morgan Chase’s clients, customers, counterparties, investors, and others lose as a result of its fraudulent conduct? $100 billion? $200 billion? More?
- THE PROFITS: How much revenue, profits, and other benefits did JP Morgan Chase receive as a result of its fraudulent conduct, and was it all disgorged? $10 billion? $20 billion? More?
- THE BONUSES: Who received what amount of bonuses for the illegal conduct?
- THE INVESTIGATION: What was the scope and thoroughness of the investigation that provided the basis for the Agreement?
- THE FRAUD: What are the material facts of the illegal conduct by JP Morgan Chase and the specific violations of law that were committed?
- THE CULPRITS: What exactly did the individual executives, officers, managers, and employees involved in the illegal conduct actually do to carry out the fraud, and do any of them still work for the bank?
- THE CORRECTIVE ACTION: Why did the contract fail to impose on JP Morgan Chase any obligation to change any of its business or compliance practices, which are standard conduct remedies that regulators routinely require? And how can the sanctions effectively punish and deter JP Morgan Chase, given its wealth and its extensive history of lawless conduct?
- THE LACK OF ADMISSIONS: Why are there no admissions of fact or law by JP Morgan Chase, and what, if any, are the concrete legal implications of their so-called “acknowledgment”?
By entering the Agreement without seeking any judicial review and approval, the DOJ violated the Constitution and laws of the United States.
- The Executive Branch, acting through the DOJ, violated the separation of powers doctrine by unilaterally striking a bargain with JP Morgan Chase to resolve unprecedented matters of historic importance, without seeking any judicial review and approval of the Agreement.
- The DOJ violated the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 (“FIRREA”) by failing to commence a civil action in federal court so that the court could, among other things, assess the civil penalty.
- The DOJ acted arbitrarily and capriciously by, among other things, entering the Agreement without seeking judicial review and approval.
* * *
But perhaps the most informative aspect of the lawsuit fact sheet is simply stepping back and observing the relentless illegal transgressions by Jamie Dimon's firm. Better Markets summarizes them best as follows:
Highlights From A Decade of Illegal Conduct by JP Morgan Chase
- United States v. JPMorgan Case Bank, NA, No-1:14-cr-7 (S.D.N.Y. Jan 8, 2014) ($1.7 billion criminal penalty); In re JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., OCC Admin. Proceeding No. AA-EC-13-109 (Jan. 7, 2014) ($350 million civil penalty); In re JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., Dept. of the Treasury Financial Crimes Enforcement Network Admin. Proceeding No. 2014-1 (Jan. 7, 2014) ($461 million civil penalty) (all for violations of law arising from the bank’s role in connection with Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, the largest in the history of the U.S.);
- In re JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., CFTC Admin. Proceeding No. 14-01 (Oct. 16, 2013) ($100 million civil penalty); In re JPMorgan Chase & Co., SEC Admin. Proceeding No. 3-15507 (Sept. 19, 2013) ($200 million civil penalty); In re JPMorgan Chase & Co., Federal Reserve Board Admin. Proceeding No. 13-031-CMP-HC (Sept. 18, 2013) ($200 million civil penalty); UK Financial Conduct Authority, Final Notice to JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. (Sept. 18, 2013) (£137.6 million ($221 million) penalty); In re JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., OCC Admin. Proceeding No. AA-EC-2013-75, #2013-140 (Sept. 17, 2013) ($300 million civil penalty) (all for violations of federal law in connection with the proprietary trading losses sustained by JP Morgan Chase in connection with the high risk derivatives bet referred to as the “London Whale”);
- In re JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., CFPB Admin. Proceeding No. 2013-CFPB-0007 (Sept. 19, 2013) ($20 million civil penalty and $309 million refund to customers); In re JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., OCC Admin. Proceeding No. AA-EC-2013-46 (Sept. 18, 2013) ($60 million civil penalty) (both for violations in connection with JP Morgan Chase’s billing practices and fraudulent sale of so-called Identity Protection Products to customers);
- In Re Make-Whole Payments and Related Bidding Strategies, FERC Admin. Proceeding Nos. IN11-8-000, IN13-5-000 (July 30, 2013) (civil penalty of $285 million and disgorgement of $125 million for energy market manipulation);
- SEC v. J.P. Morgan Sec. LLC, No. 12-cv-1862 (D.D.C. Jan. 7, 2013) ($301 million in civil penalties and disgorgement for improper conduct related to offerings of mortgage-backed securities);
- In re JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., CFTC Admin. Proceeding No. 12-37 (Sept. 27, 2012) ($600,000 civil penalty for violations of the Commodities Exchange Act relating to trading in excess of position limits);
- In re JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., CFTC Admin. Proceeding No. 12-17 (Apr. 4, 2012) ($20 million civil penalty for the unlawful handling of customer segregated funds relating to the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings, Inc.);
- United States v. Bank of America, No. 12-cv-00361 (D.D.C. 2012) (for foreclosure and mortgage-loan servicing abuses during the Financial Crisis, with JP Morgan Chase paying $5.3 billion in monetary and consumer relief);
- In re JPMorgan Chase & Co., Federal Reserve Board Admin. Proceeding No. 12-009-CMP-HC (Feb. 9, 2012) ($275 million in monetary relief for unsafe and unsound practices in residential mortgage loan servicing and foreclosure processing);
- SEC v. J.P. Morgan Sec. LLC, No. 11-cv-03877 (D.N.J. July 7, 2011) ($51.2 million in civil penalties and disgorgement); In re JPMorgan Chase & Co., Federal Reserve Board Admin. Proceeding No. 11-081-WA/RB-HC (July 6, 2011) (compliance plan and corrective action requirements); In re JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., OCC Admin. Proceeding No. AA-EC-11-63 (July 6, 2011) ($22 million civil penalty) (all for anticompetitive practices in connection with municipal securities transactions);
- SEC v. J.P. Morgan Sec., LLC, No. 11-cv-4206 (S.D.N.Y. June 21, 2011) ($153.6 million in civil penalties and disgorgement for violations of the securities laws relating to misleading investors in connection with synthetic collateralized debt obligations);
- In re JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., OCC Admin. Proceeding No. AA-EC-11-15, #2011-050 (Apr. 13, 2011) (consent order mandating compliance plan and other corrective action resulting from unsafe and unsound mortgage servicing practices);
- In re J.P. Morgan Sec. Inc., SEC Admin. Proceeding No. 3-13673 (Nov. 4, 2009) ($25 million civil penalty for violations of the securities laws relating to the Jefferson County derivatives trading and bribery scandal);
- In re JP Morgan Chase & Co, Attorney General of the State of NY Investor Protection Bureau, Assurance of Discontinuance Pursuant to Exec. Law §63(15) (June 2, 2009) ($25 million civil penalty for misrepresenting risks associated with auction rate securities);
- In re JPMorgan Chase & Co., SEC Admin. Proceeding No. 3-13000 (Mar. 27, 2008) ($1.3 million civil disgorgement for violations of the securities laws relating to JPM’s role as asset-backed indenture trustee to certain special purpose vehicles);
- In re J.P. Morgan Sec. Inc., SEC Admin. Proceeding No. 3-11828 (Feb. 14, 2005) ($2.1 million in civil fines and penalties for violations of Securities Act record-keeping requirements); and
- SEC v. J.P. Morgan Securities Inc., 03-cv-2939 (WHP) (S.D.N.Y. Apr. 28, 2003) ($50 million in civil penalties and disgorgements as part of a global settlement for research analyst conflict of interests).
Did we mention that nobody from JPM has gone to prison, and instead as of late last week, one of the biggest JPM culprits was set to become a member of the CFTC's advisory panel before the people and not the regulators, were forced to step in? Why? #AskJPM
- 25499 reads
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
- advertisements -



stay away from hot tubs bitchez
and power tools.
As long as Jamie's bonus is safe the media, and by extension the public, doesn't care. It's all good.
"Better Markets alleges in its complaint that the DOJ violated the Constitution and laws of the United States by using a mere contractual agreement to resolve claims of historic importance without subjecting the Agreement to independent judicial review"
This was exactly my fucking point regarding the Europe Corruption article.
So in otherwords, this ISN"T corruption? This is 100% legalized corruption. This is JP Morgan bribing the ENTIRE government to conduct whatever fucking actions it sees fit. This is also government, officials, otherwise known as individuals, choosing the particular "punishment" (bribe) for the actions they deem bribable.
Then they're establishing a precident so they can use that as their "template".
Yes. In a simpler age they called this practice "Buying Papal Indulgences."
I just didn't want you thinking this was something new and unprecedented in human experience. It's corruption. Plain and simple. And it will continue, if not increase in coming years.
And it's the only reason that government exists.
Tribute, bitchez!
I just want to know what kind of inbred retards still want to keep their money with criminal enterprises like JPMorgue, GoddamnSux, ShittyBunk, HSBS et al? Other than other criminals of course. All the employees and customers of these corrupt houses of horror should be shunned and ostracized.
I just want to know what kind of inbred retards still want to keep their money with criminal enterprises like JPMorgue, GoddamnSux, ShittyBunk, HSBS et al?
Almost impossible not to deal with one of the TBTJ, they have their tentacles everywhere.
Fuck the muppets...
Oh.., wait.
Any wagers on how long the court takes to issue a 'no standing' ruling against the plaintiff?
"Back off, or the dollar gets it!" [cocks silver position to "long"] "I mean it!" - Jaime Dimon
CLASSIC...
Damn near choked on my olive...
I need more upvoting powers.
Puerto Rico possibly in talks with RBC for $2-$2.5B private financing as per Bloomberg.
Near term default may be off the table.
$2b...that's like plugging the leak in the titanic with bubble gum. A miracle is required to save PR...although I would not be surprised by a stealth bailout...it may even be creative...like a switch from QE3 to QE-PR. Isn't it fun living in the land of "make believe we aren't as corrupt as China"?
Incidentally, the FED is a trust registered in PR.
General FYI.
ori
Proof, please. THis one I gotta see.
What does that matter? The Fed's charter is pretty clear [it can do whatever it wants].
I thought it was the IRS reg in PR. Anyway, regardless of the location of the trust, it's not like the Puerto Ricans can suddenly march in and take it over, any more than the Cubans can do the same for Gitmo.
All PR needs to do is grant some offshore mineral leases to the Chinese, who can dump USTs they don't really want anyway to plug the holes in the PR balance sheet- problem solved.
(until we found out what the pirated Chinese version of Corexit actually contains)
In other news a JP morgan executive's death is being treated as non suspicious after he slipped out of a hot tub off the 50th floor of their head office while doing a woodworking project and acccidentally shooting himself up with a pneumatic nail gun.
You mean the ones blythe farted up and steeped her fetid ham wallet in? You couldn't drag me there even in a haz mat suit. I'd rather skinny dip in fukushima. Ever wonder why she wears silver shorts? Because of the anti bacterial properties.
Either way hats off to the bastards because up until now they've managed to break every rule in the book, bankrupt people, cities an counties, wreak havoc, ruin lives and make billions while doing it. All the while, in modern day pharisee fashion, doing so whle being showered with the adulation of the gum chewing unwashed masses and the propaganda spewing fukktards in the media.
Boy it's going to feel good once this thing blows. Like homer simpson mowing the lawn in marge's dress just so he could see Ned flanders doing the same thing - I know I'll feel the pinch but I would love nothing more than to see Dimon over a spit with an apple in his mouth.
when you sue a TBTF bank, you sue the american taxpayer.
When you sue the American taxpayer, you're actually suing their great-great-grandkids.
I think the FED has already done that.
Speakin' of the JP Morgue, where are the Silver Bears?!?
probably giving us some time to heal and dipping their cowboy boots in water and freezing them so next time they kick us in the balls it will hurt worse. LMAO.
Apparently the COT fwiw indicates that given some folks flipping long the bottom may be in.
What do you have against apples?
sorry I spelled asshole wrong.
Signed in just to +1 "fetid ham wallet"
Jamie Dimon sucks ass. But he's a member of the Ivy League Mafia. Those guys are above the law. So what's a boy to do? Bastards.
Breurian Ripple Effect.... The Himpton Doctrine.
Never a losing day in the markets for the Morgue or the Squid.
"JP Morgan Chase is the largest, richest, and 'most well-connected Wall Street bank' "
"Well-connected" .. they sure are.. via the tunnel from Chase Plaza to FRBNY
Yeah, about that tunnel. I think the Chinese now control it . Makes it easier to get the gold from the West. SGE is so passe.
THE COURT HAS DECIDED THAT ALL SENIOR MANAGEMENT MEMBERS SHOULD GET ANOTHER BONUS!!
Hold my beer... I'm going to go sue Bernanke
Wake me when all the executives from the TBTF banks have all their wealth confiscated and they go to jail or are put to death.
Otherwise, nothing changes...
Do you really think it is the bankers themselves that are the problem or the system that they are forced to operate in?
When the system is evil, how would you expect it attract Just actions. Tossing bankers around won't solve the problem and even then nothing changes unless the system is fixed too.
“When you have made evil the means of survival, do not expect men to remain good. Do not expect them to stay moral and lose their lives for the purpose of becoming the fodder of the immoral. Do not expect them to produce, when production is punished and looting rewarded." Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand 1958
Are you an absolute twat? I don't think you understand the book you reference. The bankers are not being "forced" to do anything dipshit. Quite the opposite actually as it is you who is being forced to accept their paper promises in exchange for the fruits of your labor.
Stay on target. It is the central bank that is operating outside of the law. All the others are acting the way they do because of the central bank. The central bank is the source of the evil. If you do not attack it, then you are just wrestling tenacles.
Bullshit. The primary dealers are part of the central bank. Let me be clear, fuck all the banks/bankers, they are all traitors to the constitution and the republic. You "stay on target", get the fuck out of paper, all paper. If you are playing the paper "markets", it is you who is "wrestling with tenticles".
If you want to kill the monster, then its head must be decapitated.
The Fed is the head.
You want the Fed dead? Stop using their paper!
How?
If Laissez-Faire City exists, i'd go faster than you can shout your next insult.
Trade services for services for starters, not that hard really.
By PMs, pay under the table. I had a plumber run a sewer line 50 feet for $500 worth of silver.
Something that would have cost at least $5,000 FRNs.
I barter the best I can. It is a good start.
Why wouldn't your plumber require payment of $5k in FRNs and then go buy $5k worth of silver?
Andrew Jackson.
Just saying the name gives me goosebumps.
We have had many Generals as Presidents...though certainly not in a long time.
This is going to draw a lot of down votes but so be it - CONgress is the head they gave the Fed the power and could take it all away tomorrow.
This is actually what people like Elizabeth Warren and Ellen Brown want them to do they want the power turned over to Socialist hands. What people don't seem to remember is Yellen worked for Clinton and remember Glass-Steagall was signed off on by Clinton.
Warren wants nothing to do with ending the Fed. That's bullshit of the highest order. She administered the TARP bailout FFS!
Don't fall for another blossoming ideologist. Should have learned your lesson from 2008.
Yes, but FOMC board members are ALL part of the TBTF banks. We're splitting hairs here. The Fed was created by the banks, for the banks. They are one in the same.
Which is why I changed my avatar to a nail gun last week. I decided after hearing about that banker offing himself with one it would be appropriate to use on the others.
You made me tear just a bit right there...got me right in the cockles.
Hope yer Tetanus shots are up-to-date... :>D
The bankers are definitely part of the problem. The field of finance seems to attract more sociopaths. But the only way to prevent the banks from paying their execs and employees pretty much whatever wage/bonus they demand is for people to remove all money from the banking system. But people who have told me they don't "trust the system"...they are the very ones who keep their money in banks. It makes no sense to me.
shouldn't this be open for a class action lawsuit?
Sued. So how does this work again? They pay a "fine". The Fed gives them money for "free" backstopped by the taxpayer?
Got it.
The Godfather will not be called into question; now go break some knee caps of store owners.
A beached London Whale has been found grounded ashore. Sound the alarms.
I've seen that pic several times but don't know what that cufflink is supposed to be. Is it some illuminati pyramid symbol or something? It's too small and blury to tell what it's supposed to be.
Its proof that the man is "Untouchable"... at least according to the current administration.
It proves Jamie has really poor taste and very little class, unless he swung by the Oval Office before going to Capitol Hill to make his boy Barry pimp his daughters for some pre-testimony relief...
(then the cufflinks actually would be socially acceptable, but outside of official functions of the issuing entity-- those cufflinks are party favors, and nothing more than WASP CrackerJack prizes)
Jamie needs to go back to finishing school-
https://www.archive.org/stream/amyvanderbiltsco00vandrich/amyvanderbilts...
This will explain it...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2160340/JPMorgan-Chase-CEO-Jamie...
Presidential cuff links. A gift from the prez...because they are such good buds...and have each others backs..
Yeah, his last pair showed the president on puppet strings.
Seal of the President of Kenya acting on the behalf of the United States.
winks
If it were you or me, we would be behind bars.
The Bank should be disbanded and the oficers charged with felonies.
Like so many like to parrot, the USA is a nation of laws, unfortunately the enforcement of these laws only apply to the little guy who can't fight back.
Nice system, isn't it?
Awww c'mon CP. I'm sure once they subpoena the NSA records to set it all straight, we'll be on the road to fixing this mess.
Welcome to the New Feudal World Order.
I am surprised his middle finger is not somehow extended in that pic..because that is what he is saying..flashing the cuff links..
Are those presidential cufflinks or just some low life, child molesting Freemason cufflinks?
You mean there is a difference?
The lawsuit asks a lot of good questions. Would be nice to actually see some people held accountable.
Eric Holder needs a cross check to the face.
Eric Holder is the source of the rot.
Fuck you Holder you filthy piece of shit!!!!
It's truly sad that you'd place any blame on some low-level hired-gun/puppet.
Until you go up at least to Kissinger's level (who outranks every elected "official"), you're not getting anywhere.
The ham eating SOB!
I can't make out the symbol/engraving/whatever on the cuff link . . .
100 Nooses to go please!
Justice will be met when JPM and the other TBTF banks go tits up from execess derivative exposure.
It's coming Bitches....
You mean those hollow-shelled abstractions known as corporations? They will go tits up the instant it benefits their owners, as it will provide an avenue for means of escape.
Who exactly got hurt when MFG was Corzined again?
As someone who has been in court a lot, the last place you will get any justice or compensation will be the court system.
The lawyers stay busy playing their games and getting paid to kick the can down the road.
At some point you have to take these assholes back behind the barn and beat the hell out of them. You want to stop the abuse? You don't file a retaining order. You get your brother-in-law to knock his head in and then some.
Did Israel file lawsuits to go after the PLO after Munich? I didn't think so.
Why do you think the banksters want a blanket of surveillance, drones, cameras, machine learning, internet monitoring, car and phone location data? They want it to create a pre-crime control grid to stop physical assaults before they happen, and have all the tools to catch the few gutsy that take matters into their own hands.
All of this, while the banks pass "laws" liberating your wealth and property from you and your family to their coffers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pDVkVuC3Uw
jerryj : I can't make out the symbol/engraving/whatever on the cuff link . . .
Presidential seal cufflink.
When the Pres sucks you off and you blow the money shot on his face... you get one of those. Kind of a trophy
"Obama To Bank CEOs: "My Administration Is The Only Thing Between You And The Pitchforks"
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/03/obama-to-bank-ceos-my-adm_n_182...
and
http://www.newsweek.com/why-cant-obama-bring-wall-street-justice-65009
Looks like 2 dudes fucking a penguin. Oh yea, fuck Jami Dimon.
Bitcoin just shit the sheets right down to -0-
Made me look...$570 at 12:35 PST.
Was as in past tense.
All my life I have heard the little people told "If you do the crime, then you should do the time." This was by way of a moral lesson that those who do a crime against society or a person should do their time in prison. But, we all heard the US Justice Department say that Big Bank will not be prosecuted for financial crime because they are too important to the fiscal health of the economy. The moral lessen here was "If you do the crime, do some more."
Now I ask you, conservative, liberal, or Ron Paul conservative, IS this how to run a country? I think not.
When I was a kid, I recall being told (by someone whom I cannot recall now) that if I was going to commit a crime, go big. Really damn big. Big enough to pay off everyone involved, get the best lawyers, etc.
Modern banking and big business have taken this to another level entirely... where laws can be bent or even rewritten. Just amazing.
This will all come undone. Just a matter of time. Most of the people we see today will roast for it. And everyone will cheer. Meanwhile, the damage is already done and there will be a hell to pay regardless of who is swinging from the nearest oak tree.
"Meanwhile, the damage is already done and there will be a hell to pay regardless of who is swinging from the nearest oak tree."
Hindsight is 20/20 I was always told. This thing was too big and now is untold times bigger.
The question remains.... where, when and who is going to let the air out.
So the new motto is,
If you do the crime
Do it big time
Ditto here Jack. I'd be tempted to donate to this Better Markets .org to help them along if this gets any real wind other than paper shuffling. The states should be right behind them. But....? Although this is the way you fight the "system" we'll see if it has any real effect.
But, we all heard the US Justice Department say that Big Bank will not be prosecuted for financial crime because they are too important to the fiscal health of the economy.
Why can't people understand that this is the exact reason why they must fail.
Quoting another good line
originally from Zer0head:
"Don't do the crime, unless you can pay the fine."
I am embarrased to be an ex-JPM employee. I support this action and hope Better Markets can bring about some change. What JPM is doing is just wrong and the bank simply needs to be broken up into little pieces. JDimon needs to be replaced and the government needs to grow some balls. The people have spoken.
Dimon needs to be in federal pound-me-in-the-ass prison, the government needs to be replaced, and the people need to grow some balls.
FIFY.
The people will only "grow some balls" after they see their children die at the hands of their masters. Sad but true. A long way to go yet.
I'm afraid "the people" will just get in the train cars like sheep just like they always do.
Or even better they will continue to fight amongst themselves while ignoring (or actually not inteligent enough to identify the real enemy) the true evil.
I hope no one at the Better Markets group goes jogging on dark roads by themselves at night....
I wish the best of luck to Better Markets. Meanwhile I will prepare for economic crisis. It's inevitable
A refreshing innovative approach. Finally somebody who recognizes the real source of this systematic lawlessness - the DOJ. Whatever happened to the RICO statutes?
Too superficial, mccvilb:
"the real source of this systematic lawlessness
- the DOJ." ??? ???
The real SOURCE of this systematic lawlessness is the history of warfare, where success was based on deceits, because the real connection between the laws of man and the laws of nature is the ability to back up lies with violence. The ONLY things that actually exist are dynamic equilibria between different systems of organized lies, operating organized robberies. In theory, We the People are supposed to participate in a constitutionally limited democratic republic, through the rule of law, in order to provide checks and balances to the use of the powers of government. However, the real history of the FUNDING OF THE POLITICAL PROCESS has driven that system to become almost inconceivably crazy and corrupt, to a degree that appears like terminally sick social insanity, since the feedback of the money through politics has become an impossible to correct double-bind, paradoxical Catch 22.
The USA has been on a runaway tear of the flourishing of the social pyrmid systems of Neolithic Civilization, developing at an exponential rate, as it was able to on the fresh continent of North America. Crucial phases in that development were the destruction of the American public money system, which was supposed to be backed by gold and silver, whose value was set by Congress. Gradually, the international banksters succeeded in applying all the methods of organize crime, such as bribery and intimidation, as well as assassination of those who could not be bribed or intimidated, so that all branches of the government would agree to rubber stamp the laws that the international banksters wanted. After more than a Century of that, the government of the USA is now more than 99% based on legalized lies, backed by legalized violence, whereby the vast majority of the powers of "We the People" have effectively been privatized, while the vast majority of Americans have become Zombie Sheeple.
THE REAL PROBLEMS ARE STILL THAT GOVERNMENTS ARE THE BIGGEST FORM OF ORGANIZED CRIME, CONTROLLED BY THE BEST ORGANIZED GANGS OF CRIMINALS, WHICH CURRENTLY HAPPEN TO BE THE BANKSTERS. Theoretically, citizens are members of an organized crime gang, which is their country, which they could control, through their democratic republic's rule of law. However, after more than a Century of the Banksters taking contol over the public money supply, and being able to leverage that up to buy up control over the mass media, as well as dominate the funding of almost all social institutions, such as the school systems, the vast majority of Americans have been brainwashed to believe in bullshit, and conditioned to be like that so thoroughly that they do no longer want to understand.
An important development in the history of the systematic lawlessness was the "National Security" laws back in 1947, and onwards, whereby the best organized gangs of criminals were able to commit their crimes behind the protection of "national security." It is that psychotic concept of "national security" (driven by the paradoxical nature of militarism) which underpins the notions that the biggest banks are too systemically important to prosecute. (Indeed, as several comments previously pointed out, there is an absurd contradiction that as long as big banks get bailed out, in the end, the public would have to pay for the punishment of those big banks.)
Although I admire the efforts made by those launching this court case, I doubt that it will do anything except gather some publicity for the overall cause of awaking more people about how bad the real situation has become, as demonstrated by the detailed list of causes of action presented in this article above. However, there is NOTHING less than a series of intellectual scientific revolutions which could be theoretically sufficient to cope with the degree to which the democratic republic's rule of law has been systematically destroyed by applying the methods of organized crime through the reinforcing feed back loops of the funding of politics.
The REAL SOURCE of those problems goes all the way back to the origins of Neolithic Civilization, and beyond. The SOURCE is the problem that when people can not agree, then they fight, and when they fight, then being the best at backing up dishonesty with destruction was what tended to win that fight. Due to that process, civilization ended up becoming a mad house, controlled by the most criminally insane people, since successful fighting depended upon being deceitful. Each increment of short-term success from being the best at backing up dishonesty with destruction is what has led to America having a fundamentally fraudulent financial accounting system.
The biggest bullies' bullshit social stories dominate American, as well as the globalized civilization. The banksters, as the biggest gangsters, that have captured control over governments, are the leading symbol of that process, whereby civilization ends up being directed by triumphant financial frauds, which become increasingly insane, as it requires increasing cognitive dissonance to cope with the ways that society is controlled by Huge Lies, backed by Lots of Violence, where that Violence can never make those Lies become true, but only drive the society as a whole to become even more insane, as it is still controlled by those Huge Lies, such as through the deeply entrenched, well-established, privatized fiat money, made out of nothing, as debts, system, operated by the banksters, for their benefit.
The biggest bullies have become too successful in applying the best brainwashing that money could buy against the American people, for generation after generation. Therefore, the American people have become mostly bullshit consumers, rather than competent citizens, so that the best professional liars and immaculate hypocrites routinely win elections, after which those politicians then act as puppets for the banksters, while the masses of muppets get screwed even worse. However, the are NO good solutions by going backwards to old-fashioned impossible ideals, supported by false fundamental dichotomies. Those who propose those "solutions" for these problems actually only continue to enable things to get worse, since impossible ideals make the opposite happen in the real world.
WE ARE STUCK INSIDE THE PARADOX THAT THE BIGGEST GANGSTERS ARE THE BANKSTERS. Therefore, the RICO statutes collapse into that black hole, where control over the government has been captured by the best organized criminals, who are able to use the government's assertions that it has a monopoly on violence to back up social robberies, and to kill anyone that resists. However, it is no longer possible to resolve that problem by thinking using false fundametal dichotomies between government and organized crime.
Government is the biggest form of organized crime, and organized crime is a form of government. They are on a continuum, operating through unitary mechanisms. Similarly, governments are the biggest terrorist organizations. It is impossible that the real world could operate any other way. Therefore, there continues to be no good solutions outside of the ideas about a democratic republic operating through the rule of law, BUT, those solutions can not work after the social systems have become so thoroughly corrupted that the citizens have mostly been reduced to being Zombie Sheeple.
What is needed is for enough citizens to understand that they are members of organized crime gang, that can collectively control what that gang does. There is no real benefit it maintaining false fundamental dichotomies between the banksters, and the rest of the people. There are no paths to better resolutions of chronic political problems to be gained in that fashion. The only sufficient "refreshing innovative approach" requires enough citizens to go through intellectual scientific revolutions in the ways that they understand politics. Unfortunately, given the degree to which the majority of Americans have been already dumbed down, and how that is overall getting worse, rather than improving, it would take a series of political miracles for enough citizens to become sufficiently competent to provide better checks and balances to the uses of governmental powers.
Meanwhile, I only bother to post comments on Zero Hedge due to my residual irrational hope for such an improbable series of political miracles, since the actual alternatives are too terrible to "accept." On this Forum, at least, there are some people who understand what the real problems are ... However, unless we saw that understanding being shared by a larger percentage of the people, there continues to be nothing practical which can be done about this problem of the runaway triumph of the biggest banksters controlling the powers of government, in order to screw the vast majority of people worse and worse!
In that context, this court case is GREAT in helping to "wake up" more people regarding how bad the actual situation has become!
Don't Bogart that J, man.
Reading this again it seems they are actually going after the DOJ.. for being lame ass:
By entering the Agreement without seeking any judicial review and approval, the DOJ violated the Constitution and laws of the United States.
Umm good luck with that, no really... GOOOD LUCK!
Just seen post above.. hunting RICO info now...
In other news.. The Coporation "The City of London" floods... Gold sinks, paper floats and the markets are makebelieve.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racketeer_Influenced_and_Corrupt_Organizati...
It's not just the basis of the deal that should be investigated.
It is also the DOJ and Holder that should be investigated by an independent judicial panel conducting public hearings.
If criminal charges are not laid, then America is rotten to the core as it s quite obvious that justice can be bought with the right amount of money.
I fear however that better markets will be told it has no standing.
AG Holder: "We won't prosecute a friend of the regime."
Friend and Benefactor Obama and Jamie were old friends in Chitcago at Bank One
JPMorgan is one of the best-managed banks there is," Obama said
Flashbacks
JPMorgan's Dimon meets with U.S. Attorney General Holder
Is Eric Holder Playing Don Corleone To Jamie Dimon's Bonasera?
CONVICTED: Bush 1300+, Clinton 1000+, Obama 0.0 (+/-)Chase is currently offering its NYC customers a whopping 0.02% on one-year CDs (compounded daily!).
Is this a well run bank, or what? /
Throw Jamie Dimon into prison.
Suicided with multiple nail gun shots in the torso and head.
It is true. I swear. It was a suicide.
Jamie would look great with some 20 penny nails in his forehead.
It's the new banker bling.
I could set up shop on Wall Street to help the crooks install them. Nails-R-Us.
Personally, I would go with a 2" pin nailer.
You could keep him alive to play with for weeks.
Keep a chainsaw handy in case some of the extremities get blood poisoning.
That, my friends, is entertainment.
Fuck Chas Caldwell - aka AP !
The botfly and troll lives on MarketWatch.
Indeed, "Chas Caldwell", a.k.a. "American Patriot",the virulent anti-gold, pro-establishment troll(s), who is probably just Jon Nadler.
Does Better Markets have standing? That is the threshold question.
Misleading title. They've been at illegal conduct a helluva lot longer than a decade.
That's a long list of historical actions Jamie has had to worry about. I wonder if he got a big enough raise?
/sarc off
Yeah, don't forget the raise.
What's even more disturbing is that these settlements have been paid by shareholders...why anyone "invests" in JPM is beyond comprehension.
Have they actually all been paid?
snip...
P.S. I asked Warren on the call about something I was tipped to in the Justice Department’s year-end IG report. It appears that after announcing these fines, the MO of the Justice Department is to “take in stride” the fact that they go unpaid:
So I said to Sen. Warren, does your bill include something on the timeliness of payment? Her answer: “This one is about the disclosure. You have identified another problem, and one that’s worth talking about… we’ll see what kind of effect we get from sunlight.”
JPMorgan's Not Really Paying $20 Billion in Fines
JPMorgan’s bait-and-switch: The ballyhooed settlement is just a scam!That's the Reuters' article headline, Better Markets sues Department of Justice, somewhat different fom the Zerohedge interpretation :
" Earlier today, the non-profit organization Better Markets did what so many others have only dreamed of doing - they sued JPMorgan."
about time
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/05/jpmorgan-commodities-mercuria-...
Feb 5 (Reuters) - The physical commodity trading business thatJPMorgan Chase & Co is in exclusive talks to sell to Swiss-based trader Mercuria is a vast global enterprise, parts of which have been bought and sold many times over several decades.
While parts of the business have passed through the hands of some of the most famous and infamous names in the raw materials markets, its core is comprised of two enterprises considered among the most successful of their time: Sempra Commodities and Bear Stearns' power and gas desk.
But major parts of the JPMorgan business were extracted from the ashes of failure, including a base metals operation that endured through the near-collapse of Metallgesellschaft and the Enron meltdown, and a trading platform that dates back to the days of failed investment bank Drexel Burnham.
More recently, much of the business had already been bought and sold twice in the past five years, once when Royal Bank of Scotland bought a 51 percent stake in Sempra Commoditiesand then again when RBS was forced to sell it to JPMorgan.
A partial history of the business is below:
THE EARLY YEARS
1980s - Drexel Burnham Lambert expands into physical energy trading, hiring a team that includes future Sempra chiefs David Messer and Frank Gallipoli.
1986 - UK-based warehousing group Henry Bath & Sons is taken over by Metallgesellschaft (MG), a huge German conglomerate and one of the world's largest physical and futuresmetal traders, according to a history on its website.
Early 1990 - AIG acquires the commodity trading business of Drexel Burnham, which had filed for bankruptcy.
1997 - Pacific Enterprises and Enova Corp acquire the energy unit of AIG Trading for $225 million. (The utilities merge one year later to form Sempra Energy )
2000 - Enron buys UK-listed MG Plc, including Henry Bath warehouses, for $448 million.
ENRON OUT, OTHERS JUMP IN
2002 - Sempra Energy Trading buys Enron Metals Ltd, the former-MG metals division of the failed U.S. Enron for $145 mln.
2002 - UBS buys Enron's energy trading business in exchange for royalties to Enron creditors. The deal includes leases to several million barrels of oil storage in Canada.
2004 - Sempra Energy Trading is renamed Sempra Commodities. By 2005, the unit contributes more than half of parent company Sempra's net income; makes over half a billion dollars in 2007.
Sept. 2005 - Bear Stearns moves into energy trading through joint-venture with Calpine. Deal ends six months later, but Bear Stearns continues to expand in the power and gas markets.
Nov. 2006 - Bear Stearns buys Delta Power Co., a private power-plant developer with 1,380 megawatts of capacity.
May 2007 - Bear Stearns' commodity arm buys the electricity trading book and gas and power contracts of Williams Cos for $512 million, giving it about 7,700 MW of gas-fired tolling capacity and 1,800 MW of full-requirements power supply.
JPMORGAN'S ACQUISITION SPREE
March 2008 - JPMorgan buys Bear Stearns, including its now-large energy trading business...
quite the run, lumberjack, thank you
Silly folks, it's not illegal if you own and control the government and money supply.
Only heads in a basket is going to stop these criminals.
"Best guillotine test media is a coconut."
Fist Me Full Arm!!
Cufflink Justice!
You got to know when to Hold'er know when to Fold'er, know when to. . . .
Quote from The International
Umberto Calvini: [In explaining the "true" nature of banking in the world] The IBBC is a bank. Their objective isn't to control the conflict, it's to control the debt that the conflict produces. You see, the real value of a conflict, the true value, is in the debt that it creates. You control the debt, you control everything. You find this upsetting, yes? But this is the very essence of the banking industry, to make us all, whether we be nations or individuals, slaves to debt.
"He who sues my client is my friend." By now, JPM's lawyers must think they have died and gone to heaven.
This is big, and I shall be paying special attention to the health and well being of the bringers of this suit.
They have a very strong case/argument, I think, which is why I'll probably drink a lot when they lose, or when their case is tossed on some technical grounds or other.
From my perspective, I also think they should be suing the privately owned federal reserve system as an accessory or co-conspirator of sorts.
Any dorp/fi lawyers around familiar with these sort of cases who have an opinion?
Get the Kronies! They're Konnected!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDXuPQ9ML9E
Meet Bankor the Profit! He makes money out of moral hazard!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBZWqUKziPQ
Is there a single pol in DC, other than maybe Grayson or Sanders, who is talking about breaking up JP, Citi, et al.?
It's like there's a fire in the kitchen and dining room, and we're all sitting in the living room, watching Dance Moms, drinking Bud, and just waiting to get fried.
There ought to be a movie about Jamie Dimon's life, could I suggest Daniel Day-Lewis to play, called There Will Be Fuckery.
oh yes,
there will be rampant fuckery.
no
If Grayson or Sanders were offered senior positions on committees in exchange for whoring their constituents, you can damn well bet they would rush to the defense of the TBTF banks.
There are a few pols that like to captilize on populist rage, but they are all talk. None of them are to be trusted. Even if they are genuine, they represent less than 1% among their peers. Either way, they're pretty fucking useless to us.
Already been done.
Gangs of New York.
Remember Butcher Bill?
So Better Markets thinks their lawsuit will take precedence over a legal settlement that was determined by the highest ranking lawyers in the country?
This amounts to putting the system on trial, and there is no way in hell this lawsuit goes anywhere. Corruption is codified now. Just another pointless attempt at trying change the system from within.
soap box - drowned in noise
ballot box - co-opted by two party system
jury box - settled as civil matter
ammo box - sold out
have a happy fascist day!
if you like your fascist banking
monopoly you can keep your fascist banking
monopoly.
.
Book Excerpt Quotes Obama: I’ve Gotten ‘Really Good at Killing People’
by Mediaite Staff | 3:34 pm, November 3rd, 2013
.
"According a review of Double Down in the Washington Post, President Barack Obama once told aides that he’d gotten “really good at killing people.”
The review, by CNN’s Peter Hambry, doesn’t make the phrase sound like a boast, noting that Obama was “meditating on drone strikes” when he said it, perhaps suggesting the president was regretful of how skilled he’d become at wielding drone technology to take out America’s geopolitical foes. The review did not indicate when the comment was made." ...
.
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/book-excerpt-quotes-obama-ive-gotten-really-g...
Another movie...
'The Wedding Crashers'.
that is dark humour,
gallows humour; ask not
for who the bell tolls and
all of that. and ...
why i want a clown at my funeral
Hi Jamie and Blythe! Remember us.....?
NEWS FLASH: FRAUDS RULE THE DAY
Joe spent his entire career as a senator - making $150,000 a yr. His wife's a teacher. Nice Mansion Joe! How did you afford that?
Old Joe Biden is the worst -http://nypost.com/.../crony-capitalism-joe-bidens-brother/
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/mbna-paid-bidens-son-as-biden-backed-bill/
Mean while back in Banksterville - Obama's crackdown is in full swing. His OCC (Office of the Comptroller of the Currency) cuts Bank Examiners...nothing to see here...move along...
Even the Rupert Murdoch owned Wall St Journal has a problem with this "Comptroller Rethinks Use of Bank Examiners -
Regulator Considers Paring Back On-Site Staff at big Wall Street firms"
Mind you this is coming during a major revealing of a monster new bank fraud, and the investigation was just beginning, on how these Banks fraudulently manipulate the Global currency markets for huge profits.
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304450904579367261560792956?mg
Just as Obama yammers on about "inequality" he has a Justice dept dedicated to the Corporations. Justice in America is based on a 4 tier system here is the breakdown:
1) The Untouchables - NSA, CIA, other gov't agencies, military contractors, US Congress and Executive Branch, etc...Not subject to any real over-site and are all not held accountable to any law including the US Constitution and Bill of Rights.
2)Above the Law - Major US Banks, Corporations, and Mega-Wealthy. They can commit any crime and get off with a token fine. Their justice comes only with a dollar sign they can easily afford. Shake down by above?
3)Average American - Subject to the mind numbing 100,000 laws, rules and regulations issued by thousands of Federal, State and Local governments and agencies. Not one person in the country - even a lawyer has a clue as to all these laws. There are estimates the average American breaks 5 laws a week. For example, if you exceed the speed limit by even 1 mile/hr, you have broken the law. Not to mention the 73,954 pages of US Tax Law.
4)The Targeted - Now the Class 1 and 2 love all these laws , rules and regulations - since they don't have to follow them. They can actually be used to target and harass those they find inconvenient. See the 'Occupy Wall St' treatment, NYC Stop and Frisk, US Drug law inequities. But better - they can be used to stifle and eliminate smaller competitors.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-02-10/jpmorgan-sued-crony-justice-presenting-decade-illegal-conduct-jp-morgan-chase